The Guinness Series of Autumn Rugby internationals has been a spectacular success for Ireland. This despite being the first outing without talismanic leader Brian O’Driscoll. Wasn’t that supposed to be a loss that would lead us into a period of transition?
As O’Driscoll left the stage last spring in a welter of celebration of a great career, Joe Schmidt stood watching and waiting to see how short he could make that transition.
He has been the story of the past three weeks. After the South Africa game he said he was “just an interested observer who puts a few subs on.” After the Australia match on Saturday he was whisked off to hospital to have his appendix removed having watched through eyes, strained with pain.
At Half time Ireland had gone from a 17-0 lead to a 20-20 draw. Momentum was with the visitors. The pundits were saying that Ireland needed to get back to a tighter game and wrestle control of the game back to themselves.
It’s easy to spot those things from the TV booth, the stand or in front of a TV at home. It’s a little harder to make them happen in 10 minutes with a group of adults fired up by one of the most exciting 40 minutes of rugby they might ever have played in.
But that is exactly what Schmidt did. He brought them back to earth. He called on the leaders to exert their influence on the pitch and he made them turn a 40 point first half into a nine point second coming out the right side.
In reality he has brought the role of manager to a level in the public consciousness that matches the acclaim given to Donegal’s Jim McGuinness in the run up to September’s All Ireland Final.
It would be argued by some that Joe could have won against Australia on Saturday with a team of U16 players from Terenure College, such is his attention to detail and preparation.
It was also said of McGuinness that Donegal was less about the players than the manager. and the same was also said of Sir Alex Ferguson when the players he brought to a Premier League title in his last year proved to be mere mortals under others leadership since.
There is no doubt that a great coach can transform good players into a great team. That is not to say the Irish players are anything less than great themselves.
That will be tested in the spring and the autumn when Ireland go into the World Cup as genuine contenders. Their odds of winning are still three times those of hosts England and we remain behind Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in the betting lists of the major bookmakers who trade more on cold fact than warm sentiment but still. None of those countries has Joe…
In the coming weeks Sport for Business will launch a new series of keynote interviews on Leadership within Sport and Business, in collaboration with our Leadership partners PwC.
